Does Michigan-Michigan State game matter to recruits? Let's examine

A look at the Michigan vs. Michigan State football rivalry, entering the 2018 meeting. Produced by Brian Manzullo, Detroit Free Press.
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Michigan and Michigan State players jump for the football on Michigan quarterback John O'Korn's Hail Mary throw into the end zone on the game's final play. The ball fell to the ground, giving Michigan State a 14-10 win at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Oct. 7, 2017.(Photo: Eric Seals, Detroit Free Press)

Michigan football linebacker Josh Ross stood in Schembechler Hall on Monday afternoon and answered a question.

Does the Wolverines’ annual rivalry with Michigan State have any impact on recruiting between the two schools?

“I don’t really know,” Ross said. “I just know in my point of view, I’m ready to go for this game. It’s a big deal for me personally and for my team, so I’m ready to go.”

For the Wolverines, Saturday's game at Spartan Stadium is another game on their ‘revenge tour’ and an opportunity to end a 17-game losing streak to ranked opponents on the road. For the Spartans, it’s a chance to continue their dominance of this rivalry over the past decade and re-enter the Big Ten title race.

But winning the game has minimal impact on the recruiting trail, if at all, according to 247Sports recruiting analyst Steve Lorenz.

“I don’t think it has a huge impact, oddly enough,” Lorenz said. “It may with a couple of the big dogs, though; I don’t know. It’s always those two or three every cycle. Feels like there’s three or four programs that Michigan has many, many more head-to-head battles with each cycle than Michigan State for whatever reason.”

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Of course, there are exceptions. Both schools pursued prospects such as Donovan Peoples-Jones and Ambry Thomas, who both signed with Michigan, and Devontae Dobbs and Julian Barnett, who are committed to Michigan State’s 2019 recruiting class.

“It’s one of these deals where every couple cycles or so, you might see an uptick in guys they’re both recruiting pretty hard,” Lorenz said, “but by and large they seem to be recruiting different players in the same areas.”

As for why, both schools seem to employ different recruiting strategies. Under Jim Harbaugh, Michigan has taken a more national approach to recruiting, whereas under former coach Brady Hoke, the Wolverines were mostly focused on the Midwest.

Lorenz speculates that the Spartans might even target overlooked players as part of their strategy.

“It feels like Michigan State’s done a good job of finding a group of players who may collectively already have a chip on their shoulders in regards to Michigan before they step on campus,” he said.

Lorenz cited the example of James Ohonba, a 3-star lineman from Georgia in the class of 2018. Early on in Ohonba’s recruitment, he took a visit to Michigan. The Wolverines led after that visit, but things cooled off between both sides during Ohonba’s senior season. He eventually took an official visit to Michigan State and signed with the Spartans.

“I have zero doubt in my mind Michigan State basically pitched that to this kid, ‘Hey, they backed off on you, we love you, you can get your revenge,’ ” Lorenz said.

247Sports midwest recruiting analyst Allen Trieu believes the rivalry does have an impact, although he says one result doesn't matter as much as the overall trend of the series.

"In the late '90s into the 2000s, it was all Michigan," Trieu said. "Michigan State has shifted the momentum in the series to the point where the kids being recruited now view the two schools much differently than a recruit in the state in the '90s would have.

"Who wins tomorrow is important to me in recruiting because Michigan needs to try to shift the series back and MSU wants to keep the momentum.”

Regardless how the recruiting strategies have differed, things have worked out for both programs. Michigan is ranked No. 6 entering Saturday's game at Spartan Stadium, has won six consecutive games and is in the thick of the Big Ten title race. Michigan State has won eight of the past 10 games in the rivalry and three Big Ten championships under Mark Dantonio.

“Michigan State’s won more big games in the last 10 years than Michigan has,” Lorenz said. “You’d think their paths would cross more, that Michigan State would’ve been trending up on the recruiting trail, Michigan would be trending down.

“They have their blueprint for what they look for on the recruiting trail and they’ve stuck with it. I think Michigan just recruits like most of the other programs in the country. State has this formula for what they like in players, and it’s obviously paid off for them.”